Friday, 26 May 2017

Having moved from London to Dorset and begun to settle down in our new house and village I began to get to know the neighbours and the local personalities. Jeremy Brown was, what could only be called,the local squire. Well, at least, his father had been in a former era. Father, Captain Brown had built up a large holding of land, been a keen local church supporter and master of the local foxhounds. When he passed on Jeremy took over the land and continued to be a church warden and play a central part of local life. As far as I am aware he was never a Master of Hounds. Living in the Dower House, in a dead end coombe, at the top of the village Jeremy farmed the land and tended large areas of his woodlands. He was an upright man of considerable bearing, dark haired and charming to a fault. As time went by the land held by Jeremy decreased as properties and bits of land were sold off. Jeremy's son took over the running of the farm and things went downhill fairly rapidly. The son seemed to prefer spending most of his time playing computer games and spent little time looking after the farm and its stock. All sorts of initiatives were embarked upon, including renovation of the old stables and installation of new horsey facilities in an attempt to create a livery business and, no doubt, make some money. Of course, these things need work and attention, they don’t happen by themselves or overnight. A lesson which son seemed not to have learned. To cut a long story short things went into terminal decline resulting in the sale of most of the property and Jeremy and his wife moving out into a bungalow in a local village and son and his wife departing for London, no doubt, in pursuit of fortune elsewhere.

But during happier days I got to know Jeremy quite well as he was a keen shooting man and I took up an offer from his game keeper to join the beating team. The land which formed the shoot was very beautiful as it was composed of old woodlands and deep coombes. It provided very high and difficult birds. In the early days I referred to Jeremy as Mr. Brown but after a couple of weeks he decided I was ok and could, therefore, call him Jeremy. What it is to be one of the boys !!! In any event I enjoyed the shoot greatly, Harrold the keeper, part time, did a good job and the shoot was well run and friendly. Harold was also Jeremy’s neighbour having bought one of the farms cottages.

Soon after I joined the beating team I got a new lurcher puppy, Toby, and a year later Toby joined me on beating days. It was Jeremy's custom to pay the beaters himself rather than the usual situation where the keeper does the job of handing out the pay. It was also the case that people with a dog got an extra pound. This again was paid in person by Jeremy and each dog handler was handed the pound coin, cash in hand, and not in the usual little brown envelope used for the rest of the beaters pay. On the first occasion I took Toby with me and when Jeremy came to pay me he looked at Toby and asked "Larcher isn’t it ?". People like Jeremy have their own form of the language you understand, for example, a bird is a bard and yes is ya, and that is why the locals in these parts refer to such people as ya ya’s. Anyway, having confirmed that Toby was indeed a Lurcher, Jeremy nodded looked deeply at him and then said, "not claiming a dog are you". What this meant, was of course, not claiming an extra pound. I was very tempted to tell Jeremy that clearly his need was greater than mine but decided upon discretion! So it was that this ritual continued for the best part of that particular season and each time I affirmed that I was not claiming a dog I was told by Jeremy that I was "a good chap"! This little charade at the end of the day appeared to annoy my neighbour and fellow beater much more than it did me. He would come out with the most ungentlemanly comments regarding this matter and in terms that I couldn’t possibly repeat here !! When, towards the end of the season, and Toby had completed a particularly good day, having flushed large numbers of pheasants my neighbour approached me and said "you tell the tight old sod that you are claiming a dog today". As usual Jeremy arrived to pay us and as usual I was addressed with, "not claiming a dog are you?" I replied that actually I was since Toby had worked every bit as well as any of the other dogs present. I received a wry smile and was handed my pound coin. Thereafter I was never asked again and the extra pound was always forthcoming without comment. Happy days.

On another occasion at the end of the morning session I was approached by Jeremy and the conversation went something like this, "Ah, Derek, did you lose the Larcher on the second drive"? He smiled and looked at me for a response before continuing, "chased a deer you know, right through the line, grabbed it at the bottom fence." Fortunately it got over the fence. Oh God, there are sometimes when you wish the ground will swallow you up. I apologised claiming to have missed Toby’s departure and believed him to have been in pursuit of a rabbit. I was treated to another one of Jeremy's grins and the reply, "Oh well, one of those things, nasty business." The matter was never mentioned again and neither was it repeated. By the next season Toby would stop on command even if he was tempted to think about chasing a deer.

When we moved from that village to our present home we did so in order to buy some land, soon after our relocation I heard that Jeremy was selling of parcels of land. Not long after that I heard of his departure from the village. Great days, good memories but, as they say, nothing stays the same for ever.

Tuesday, 23 May 2017

Kingsley Parish Council meets on Thursday, 25th May 2017 in the Kingsley Centre at 8.00pm following the Annual Parish Meeting

AGENDA

1. Chairman’s Opening Remarks2. Apologies for Absence3. Declarations of Personal/Prejudicial Interest4. Public Question TimePublic QuestionsConsideration of agenda items which will be open to public participation

10. Commons, Village Greens and Rights of WayUpper GreenTo receive an update from Cllr GregoryTo consider the quote of £25 (ex VAT) per cut of the newly reinstated area of upper green. This work will be added to existing contract for this year at a total likely extra cost of £175 for the year (i.e. 7 cuts)Lower GreenTo consider granting a wayleave for SSE to install an electrical cable under the Parish Council owned Footpath 6 to provide utility service the new build Dale House

11. Community Resilience12. Environment and BiodiversityTo consider the response to the invitation from Grundon to join a Liaison Group for the future of the Frith End quarry.

13. Kingsley Village Forum14. Housing, Business & Commerce15. Review of Capital Projects16. CommunicationsThe correspondence received this month was listed & circulated to all Cllrs prior to the meeting.Parish email database

17. BroadbandTo receive an update from Cllr Coury & Cllr Clayton

18. District Councillor19. Procedures, Finance and PaymentsTo discuss digitisation of Parish Council legal documentsTo consider the renewal of KPC’ Insurance for 5 years at cost of £1088.72 per annum – Current agreement with Zurich is terminated end of May 2017

Payments to be made & Accounts to acceptApril 2017 Payments authorised by Cllr Rigden & Cllr LowePayment DatePayeePayment ModeDescriptionAmount21/04/2017SSEDDSt Nicholas Chapel electricity period 23/12/16 to 01/04/1721.6728/04/2017Karine Nana YonkoBACSClerk's April 2017 expenses invoice 0001-2017/1888.3628/04/2017Karine Nana YonkoBACSClerk's April 2017 salary336.0028/04/2017HALCBACSInv 1526 Affiliation fees 2017/18244.0028/04/2017Cllr David LoweBACSReimbursement train fares to London for CAA meeting 17/02/1751.0028/04/2017PCSBACSInv 2915 Mole control at Upper Green140.0028/04/2017P.J GraceBACSInv for work done at Upper Green1336.00To consider the payment of invoices on the schedule included in the agenda of the meetingMay 2017 Payments to be authorisedPayment DatePayeePayment ModeDescriptionAmount30/05/2017HMRCBACSPAYE period to 05/06/175.4030/05/2017Karine Nana YonkoBACSClerk's May 2017 expenses invoice 0002-2017/18108.0530/05/2017Karine Nana YonkoBACSClerk's May 2017 salary414.6030/05/2017Do the Numbers LtdBACSInv 12/545 Internal audit year ending 31/03/17185.0030/05/2017Euroffice LtdBACSInv Stationnery67.48Date of Next Meeting of Kingsley Parish Council –Thursday 22nd June 2017 – 7.30 pm at the Kingsley Centre

The Annual Parish Meeting of Kingsley Parish Council on Thursday 25th May 2017 at 7.30pm in the Kingsley Centre.

AGENDA

1. Apologies for Absence2. Election of Chairman3. Declaration of Acceptance of Office as Chairman4. Election of Vice-Chairman5. Declaration of Acceptance of Office as Vice-Chairman6. Approval of Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 28th April 20167. Registers of interests8. Review of Appendix F of Standing Orders and Agreement of Lead Councillors for 2017/18 (Appendix attached)

9. Approval of Standing orders, Financial Regulations and Risk AssessmentsCouncillors to propose any areas where they think amendments are needed

10. Approval of Final Accounts for the Financial Year 2016/2017To acknowledge comments from Internal Auditor

11. Date of Next Meeting – April 2018This Annual Parish Meeting will be followed by the monthly meeting of the Parish Council.